Freedom Tower New York

Train Wreck Coming? – TheChronicleHerald.ca | World Trade Center ...

I'm just back from New York City. I had discovered myself with some tax company to attend to last Friday " Canada Day " so I stayed on in downtown Manhattan and caught the Yankees-Mets subway series at the new Citi Field in Queens.

It wasn't all baseball, however. Whilst I had a great time, I came away worried.

Ever get the feeling the words and the music don't match up? Normal readers will note that I occasionally write about the state of the U.S. from an outsider's viewpoint. Following all, I find myself down there more than a handful of occasions every year. Once again, a wonderful trip.

September marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks and they are operating from early morning until late at evening to have the memorial finished.

One of the many issues that struck me was the sheer size of the original project. Usually having viewed the towers from the television screen, I had a sense that there was some relative distance between them. However, they had been literally across the street from 1 an additional.

My neighbourhood hotel adjacent to the site was almost 60 stories. The twin towers had been twice as high. Unless 1 experiences the sense of magnitude, it is virtually indescribable. These towers had been slightly much less tall than the CN Tower. Their sheer mass was gigantic, and whilst they only cost $400 million to develop at first, that number translates into almost $2.2 billion these days.

They have almost completed the new Freedom Tower " address One World Trade Center " with a height of 1776 feet (541 metres), which no doubt is a number history buffs will recognize. A pair of reflecting pools and a green space make up the actual memorial site and there was no lack of solemnity to this pilgrimage.

All more than Manhattan there is a hubbub of activity. Buildings going up, renovations galore, gentrification progressing and lots of individuals on the numerous job sites and in the stores. I did wander via the numerous villages: Tribeca, SoHo, NoHo, Greenwich, Chelsea. Maybe I wasn't paying interest as much as I should but there weren't many help-desired indicators to be spotted.

Which basically tells me that all is not as well as it appears to be.

We all know individuals who seem to be doing great, only to find that the day comes when the credit runs out and they are truly broke. There are all sorts of businesses as well that seem to develop and succeed, held up as an example, only to find themselves in bankruptcy.

Manhattan skyscrapers

Planning

Fodor's New York City 2010

New York, the novel

Congressional Record, V. 147, Pt. 8, June 12, 2001 to June 25, 2001